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arXiv:0802.3896 · Physical Review A

Optimal tracking for pairs of qubit states

Paulo E. M. F. Mendonça, Alexei Gilchrist, Andrew C. Doherty

Published Jul 11, 2008• 8 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

In classical control theory, tracking refers to the ability to perform measurements and feedback on a classical system in order to enforce some desired dynamics. In this paper we investigate a simple version of quantum tracking, namely, we look at how to optimally transform the state of a single qubit into a given target state, when the system can be prepared in two different ways, and the target state depends on the choice of preparation. We propose a tracking strategy that is proved to be optimal for any input and target states. Applications in the context of state discrimination, state purification, state stabilization, and state-dependent quantum cloning are presented, where existing optimality results are recovered and extended.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.78.012319

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In classical control theory, tracking refers to the ability to perform measurements and feedback on a classical system in order to enforce some desired dynamics. In this paper we investigate a simple version of quantum tracking, namely, we look at how to optimally transform the state of a single qubit into a given target state, when the system can be prepared in two different ways, and the target state depends on the choice of preparation. We propose a tracking strategy that is proved to be optimal for any input and target states. Applications in the context of state discrimination, state purification, state stabilization, and state-dependent quantum cloning are presented, where existing optimality results are recovered and extended.
This thesis addresses the of developing a counter-part of the well established classical theory of control. We dwell on the fundamental fact that states are generally not perfectly distinguishable, and measurements typically introduce noise in the system being measured. Because of these, it is generally not clear whether the central concept of the classical control theory --- that of observing the system and then applying feedback --- is always useful in the setting. We center our investigations around the of transforming the state of a system into a given target state, when the system can be prepared in different ways, and the target state depends on the choice of preparation. We call this the quantum tracking problem and show how it can be formulated as an optimization that can be approached both numerically and analytically. This provides a simple route to the characterization of the trade-off between information gain and disturbance, and is seen to have several applications in information. In order to characterize the optimality of our tracking procedures, some figure-of-merit has to be specified. Naturally, distance measures for states are the ideal candidates for this purpose. We investigated several possibilities, and found that there is usually a compromise between physically motivated and mathematically tractable measures. We also introduce an alternative to the Uhlmann-Jozsa fidelity for mixed states, which besides reproducing a number of properties of the standard fidelity, is especially attractive because it is simpler to compute. We employ some ideas of convex analysis to construct optimal control schemes analytically. In particular, we obtain analytic forms of optimal controllers for stabilizing and tracking any pair of states of a single-qubit. In the case of stabilization, we find that feedback control is always useful, but because of the trade-off between information gain and disturbance, somewhat different from the type of feedback performed in classical systems. In the case of tracking, we find that feedback is not always useful, meaning that depending on the choice of states one wants to achieve, it may be better not to introduce any noise by the application of measurements. We also demonstrate that our optimal controllers are immediately applicable in several information applications such as state-dependent cloning, purification, stabilization, and discrimination. In all of these cases, we were able to recover and extend previously known optimal strategies and performances. Finally we show how optimal single-step control schemes can be concatenated to provide multi-step strategies that usually over-perform optimal control protocols based on a single interaction between the controller and the system.
This thesis addresses the problem of developing a quantum counter-part of the well established classical theory of control. We dwell on the fundamental fact that quantum states are generally not perfectly distinguishable, and quantum measurements typically introduce noise in the system being measured. Because of these, it is generally not clear whether the central concept of the classical control theory -- that of observing the system and then applying feedback -- is always useful in the quantum setting. We center our investigations around the problem of transforming the state of a quantum system into a given target state, when the system can be prepared in different ways, and the target state depends on the choice of preparation. We call this the "quantum tracking problem" and show how it can be formulated as an optimization problem that can be approached both numerically and analytically. This problem provides a simple route to the characterization of the quantum trade-off between information gain and disturbance, and is seen to have several applications in quantum information.
Quantum control refers to our ability to manipulate quantum systems. This tutorial-style chapter focuses on the use of classical electromagnetic fields to steer the system dynamics. In this approach, the quantum nature of the control stems solely from the underlying dynamics, through the exploitation of destructive and constructive interference to reach the control target. We first discuss two basic control principles -- coherent control which uses manipulation in frequency or time to design these interferences, and adiabatic following where access to the control target is enabled by tracking the time-dependent ground state. For complex control targets and system dynamics that exceed the scope of these basic principles, optimal control theory provides a powerful suite of tools to design the necessary protocols. A key consideration for the successful application of optimal control theory is a proper choice of the optimization functional. All concepts are illustrated using recent work from my research group, with a focus on controlling atoms and superconducting qubits. The chapter concludes with an outlook on integrating coherent control with engineered dissipation and a discussion of open questions in the field.
The extreme sensitivity of quantum systems towards the external perturbations and in the same time their ability to be strongly coupled to the measured target field makes them to be stable under the environmental noise. A high quality quantum sensor can be engineered even on the platform of a single trapped qubit. There is a variety of optimal and sub-optimal algorithms for effective control over the quantum system states. Here we discuss the opportunity to improve the efficiency of the external field quantum sensor based on a single qubit via its feedback tracking.
This thesis is concerned with the control and filtering problems for quantum systems. Two kinds of control problems are considered for a class of quantum systems: optimal control and trajectory tracking control. Filtering of a class of linear quantum systems is also investigated. \n \nFor the optimal control of quantum systems, the system in question evolves on a manifold inR^3 and is modeled as a bilinear control form whose states are represented as coherence vectors. An associated matrix Lie group system with state space S O(3) is introduced in order to facilitate solving the given problem. The controllability as well as the reachable set of the system is analyzed in detail. The maximum principle is applied to the optimal control for systems evolving on the Lie group of special orthogonal matrices of dimension 3, with cost that is quadratic in the control input. Controlling the evolutions of coherence vector is equivalent to controlling the states of an associated matrix Lie group system. Thus, the optimal control problem for single spin-1/2 systems can be transformed to steer state of the matrix Lie group system from the identity matrix to a final matrix corresponding to a target state of single spin-1/2 systems in an optimal fashion. The obtained result is employed to perform a reversible logic quantum operation NOT on single spin-1/2 systems. Explicit expressions for the optimal control are given which are linked to the initial state of the system. The main contribution of the result is to extend the existing result to a larger class of systems, generalizing existing wave-function-based results to single spin-1/2 systems whose states are represented by density matrices such that it allows the inclusion of mixed states. \n \nFor the tracking control problem of closed single spin-1/2 quantum ensembles, based on the Liouville-von Neumann equation, mathematical model of dynamics for single spin-1/2 quantum ensembles are formulated as a bilinear form with states evolving on Bloch sphere. For a typical setting in NMR, one in general would not cancel the applied electromagnetic field along a specified direction, thus leading to the dynamics in a plane perpendicular to that direction on the Bloch sphere. One natural question arises that how can one design a feedback controller such that given an initial condition for quantum ensembles, the system evolutions can be steered to the pre-determined trajectory. An associated matrix Lie group differential equation describing transfers from the initial state being an identity matrix is naturally introduced. The tracking problem for the system of interest is transformed to a stabilization problem such that the control techniques are able to be used. A distance function as well as a distance vector defined on the Lie group SO(3) are introduced, which can be used to construct a Lyapunov function to deal with the tracking problem. In order to deal with the tracking problem, the Lyapunov-based feedback design method is employed to obtain the feedback control such that the dynamics of system can converge to the reference trajectory. \n \nFor filtering of quantum systems, the filter problem of a class of linear quantum stochastic systems with quantum noise is investigated. The quantum system model is first analyzed, then the necessary conditions of nondemolition are obtained by applying the observation principle. The relations between the input and output noise are necessary for the nondemolition measurement of the quantum output channels. Given prescribed quantum system, the filter of the system is derived using those necessary conditions.
Using results from quantum filtering theory and methods from classical control theory, we derive an optimal control strategy for an open two-level system (a qubit in interaction with the electromagnetic field) controlled by a laser. The aim is to optimally choose the laser's amplitude and phase in order to drive the system into a desired state. The Bellman equations are obtained for the case of diffusive and counting measurements for vacuum field states. A full exact solution of the optimal control problem is given for a system with simpler, linear, dynamics. These linear dynamics can be obtained physically by considering a two-level atom in a strongly driven, heavily damped, optical cavity.